California judges who want to stay in government work after retiring got a boost from a state appellate court, which said a law forbidding public employment during a judge's term of office is only a ban on moonlighting while in office.

That's different from the interpretations of the law by state Controller John Chiang, the attorney general's office, and a judge who heard the lawsuit by a longtime state appellate justice. They all said the ban covers the remaining years of the term for which a judge was appointed or elected, barring government employment for as long as a decade after retirement from the bench.